"Inuyasha? How/ Why? Why are you here?" Sota asked.

Inuyasha did not give an immediate response; he was looking Kagome's brother over. A lot can happen to a person to mark them in the span of two months. The hero-worshiping little boy he first met was now a very distant memory. Before him standing on somewhat shaky legs was a boy who obviously taken his first steps into becoming the man of the house. He felt sadden by it, Sota would never have experienced the hardships that Inuyasha had, still he showed signs of maturity that only trauma can force you to adapt to. Part of the reason those signs were there to begin with was him. Sota had forgiven Inuyasha, his failure to protect Kagome, but it was for her sake that Sota had. Not because he truly had forgiven him. Inuyasha had known it; on some remote level of thinking that only other males can ever have access to. And through Shippo, had tried to earn that forgiveness. He hadn't failed Shippo, as far as he knew, but he had failed Sota. So, in keeping things simple, he made amends to the one little brother Kagome had that he could actually do something about. The results were one he could proudly boast of.

"I've come to see Kagome."

"She's not here. She left with…"

"I know." Inuyasha said trying to sound as un-intimating as was possible. "I saw her leave with that boy. I came to see how she's been holding up."

" I don't understand."

It still was easy for Inuyasha to lose his patience, but he had gotten better at hiding it. " I meant how she's been handling going back to the Warring States Era."

Sota's mouth opened to big 'O' and his eyes took the light of understanding. He closed his mouth and thought his words over before saying them. "She's been okay with it now. At first, she wouldn't sleep after coming back. But when mom said she wouldn't be allowed to go anymore if she didn't get sleep at night, she started taking pills to sleep."

"Pills?"

"Yeah you know herbs packed into a small oval-shaped form."

" Is she still taking them?"

"No." Sota looked at him questioning. " She's been drinking some sort of tea she said her miko master there gave her." he trailed off.

Inuyasha said nothing in response. Kaede had not told him of this. He didn't want Sota to know he was in the dark concerning Kagome. He considered telling that to Sota but quickly decided otherwise. If he was going to get any information from Kagome's brother he couldn't let him know that Inuyasha hadn't actually been in contact with Kagome. Which one's could he ask without giving himself away? Best to start out with obvious ones that Kagome wouldn't answer.

" How often does that boy come around here?"

Sota carefully watched Inuyasha's face. Yeah, he could see the fact that Hojo came here a lot bothered the hanyo. Still, he wondered if he should say anything. If his sister wouldn't talk about Inuyasha to him should he be giving information about Hojo to Inuyasha? The hanyo was capable of doing so much more damage than he ever could. Apparently, he had taken too long in answering for Inuyasha.

"It's a simple question Sota."

He answered truthfully; Hojo would always know when Kagome planned to come back home and would be here an hour or so before waiting for her. And then his sister would spend almost all of her time with him. Inuyasha was not happy to hear this. He crouched on the floor and held his arms against one another around his knees. His ability to control his rage was getting better than before. Sota thought. Even though he secretly thought Kagome should be with Hojo, he has to admit Inuyasha and his sister did look good together. And although he was still a kid he could understand that his sister held a lot of deep feelings for the hanyo sitting in front of him.

"Are you going to wait for her to come back then? You know mom says she has to stay here at least a full day. And if you think mom's gonna change her mind about that."

Inuyasha cut him off. " Yeah I'm gonna wait around. But not here. I'm going to see what they're doing."

He got up and was already at the window preparing to jump out when Sota said to him.

"You can't go out wearing those robes and with your ears plain to see. Kagome did say last time she came back that she would have a much easier time going around with Kouga cause he looked more human than you. Who's Kouga, Inuyasha?" Sota knew perfectly well who Kouga was, and the comment said off-handedly had the effect he desired. Inuyasha stopped and turned bright golden eyes to him.

"She said that did she?"

Sota found himself unable to get his breath from a moment. He could feel the rage coming off Inuyasha in waves. Okay so maybe baiting him with the other demon in love with his sister had not been a good idea afterall. He was only trying to get Inuyasha into clothes that would allow him to blend in with everyone else more easily. It seemed to have backfired in his face.

"Ye.. Yeah. But I don't think she meant that she rather have him here over you.." he quickly tried to mollify the situation. " Just saying that he would give her less problems about wearing our clothes and blending in."

At the mention of the wolf, Inuyasha felt his anger rush forward and was barely able to suppress his demon. He must not have been too successful because Sota was looking at him like he'd never seen him before. Okay how to fix this. One thing he could do for sake of argument he could try to blend in. He asked Sota for anything to wear and Sota relieved that Inuyasha was being reasonable afterall, smiled and said he'd be back with some clothes for him.

Inuyasha paced the room, thinking on how to approach Kagome without scaring her. The fact he still had the rosary and all its subduing effects did not make him feel at ease. If she was still upset or if he frightened her enough she had the power to literally break him in two. Turning and facing the window he wondered if, when she did finally go back with him, would her mother still impose her three-day rule? How were they supposed to find anything in only three days? Correction one day. It kinda limited their options as far as traveling goes. There's only so far you can go before you have to return in order to stay within that time frame. He was getting frustrated. An annoyed growl left his throat.

" Alright already, sheesh, I wasn't gone that long was I?" Sota asked as he stepped back into the room holding a small pile of clothes.

Inuyasha turned and eyed the pile with obvious suspicion. Still he had agreed so he took the first item and lifted it up to him. "Isn't this a bit tight?" he asked Sota. Sota just smiled before telling him that it was supposed to be like that. He shook his head and lifted the next article. It was a top and it held a bit more space to move in than the previous one. Sota explained that they were casual clothes and he should have noticed Hojo wearing something like it earlier. Everyone wore them so he could blend in easier if he wore the same thing. Inuyasha couldn't argue with that bit of logic so he began to undress and change into the clothes so he could go find Kagome.

Shippo stared at Kouga as his vision began to swim and darken. He knew better than to interfere, still he did what he had because of loyalty to Inuyasha. Kouga might be a friend but Inuyasha was family. If the two of them had continued to fight he was pretty sure they would have kept fighting until one of them was dead. He didn't have the strength to come between them if it had gotten that far. "I understand." he croaked out before succumbing to the darkness.

Kouga stood over Shippo's unconscious form. He had to admit the kitsune shown courage. Stupidity as well. Picking up the kitsune, Kouga traveled back to the village to leave the boy in the care of the monk. He still had a lot of anger running through him and a hunt would go a long way in pacifying that. Upon arriving at the village, the monk immediately asked a multitude of questions. He was not in the mood to answer any of them and blurted out he was going to hunt for a boar. He then turned and ran into the forest. He could hear his fellow wolves follow a small distance behind.

"What do you think it was that set him off like that?" Sango asked walking up to the monk still holding Shippo. Miroku turned and walked to Kaede's hut as he answered Sango's question.

"Seeing as only Kouga and Shippo have returned it is safe to say Inuyasha will be back with Kagome soon."

"But why would that upset Kouga?"

" Who can say? We will just have to wait until Inuyasha and Kagome return to find out."

Sango nodded her head in agreement.

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The shoes on his feet were making it difficult to get a good grip on things. So he couldn't just go jumping and leaping over things in his usual manner. He had to walk and it bothered him only because he had to slow down. After a very short debate it was decided that Sota should accompany him, at least until they found Kagome. He stated that he didn't need him to find her. That with his sense of smell he could find her by himself. Sota had pointed out the obvious, what was he going to say to her when he did find her and keep her from going ballistic with him? Besides, even with the clothes his mannerisms kinda gave him away. At least with him along, he could pass as an overprotective brother or something similar to it.

They had arrived at what Sota said was a mall. He did not want to go into it. Sota smiled and opened the door stepping into it. Inuyasha followed. The barrage of smells that hit his nose making him nauseous. He had to concentrate on keeping his footing. Sota looked back to him asking if he was all right. He replied that he was and began to walk with Sota. As long as he limited his attention on Kagome's brother he could filter out all the other smells. It became easier to be within the confined space of this 'mall'.

They had walked half of it already and still had not found Kagome. But they had found unwanted attention, mostly by other girls who were making gawking looks and comments at Inuyasha. At first he thought that they were mocking him, but Sota had to embarrassingly explain that they were complementing him. Inuyasha blushed. And the girls nearby went into another fit of giggles and hand gestures. Sota blushing a little himself dragged Inuyasha away when one of the bolder girls asked if he would grow up to be as handsome as his big brother. As they walked away their embarrassment reached a new level as they could still hear the girls discussing and admiring the backsides of them walking away.

"Oh my god1 I'm only a kid and they were flirting with me too!" Sota was saying. Inuyasha just laughed at him and they continued to walk. Now that they were no longer near those girls the whole situation was funny to him. And he laughed louder. Sota soon joined him in merriment.

Kagome looked up. She thought she heard her brother laughing. She searched the crowd for signs of him and her breath caught in her throat when she found him. That couldn't be Inuyasha with him could it? She turned following their movement with her head, unwilling to lose sight of them. Hojo had come up and asked what was she watching. She told him she just seen her brother and was looking to see where he was headed. Hojo suggested they go find him and ask. She stood and they began their own search for those two.